Dr. Alison Piepmeier Outstanding Student Award

Congratulations to lauren frey!

Ms. Frey is the first winner of the Alison Piepmeier Outstanding Student Award. A Park Scholar and a graduating senior in Women's and Gender Studies at North Carolina State University; she has a near perfect GPA and is currently conducting research for a project entitled, "Youth Dating and Sexual Violence Prevention Education in Durham, North Carolina." Dr. Piepmeier's partner, Dr. Brian McGee, attended the SEWSA 2017 Business Luncheon and presented the award to Ms. Frey.

Dr. Alison piepmeierDecember 11, 1972 - August 12, 2016

Former board member and SEWSA President, Dr. Alison Piepmeier of the College of Charleston passed away on August 12th, 2016, following her protracted struggle with brain cancer. Dr. Piepmeier served as SEWSA President from 2006-2008 and on the Board as President-Elect and Past-President from 2004-2010. Serving with dedication and excellence, she has been a role model for the presidents who have followed in her path; a loyal and generous colleague in both SEWSA and NWSA contexts; a fierce feminist, promoter of the field, and public intellectual; and a dedicated mentor. Dr. Piepmeier built a distinguished professional career in administration and research, as well as a reputation as a committed activist and blogger. The current President of SEWSA, Dr. Jennifer Purvis, has written, Dr. Piepmeier "fostered lively debate surrounding her insights and roused the kind of strength and encouragement that enhances feminist solidarity across differences of perspectives and views. She will be sorely missed by the organization and in the field, but her legacy will live on, not only in the archive of her work, but in the many students, colleagues, and friends whose lives she has touched and whose work she has inspired and will continue to inspire well into the future." In gratitude and in honor of her memory, the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Women's Studies Association announces this Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award.

The Alison Piepmeier Outstanding Student Award

This award is designed to assist undergraduate students who are members of SEWSA with their research and professional development or relevant activist or campus-community work. The outstanding student’s research, activism, or service/outreach should be consistent with the mission of SEWSA to foster scholarship on and activism eliminating oppression and discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic background, physical ability, and class. The award is $500 and can be used for professional travel, books, supplies, and/or equipment. This grant originated in 2016 and will be awarded every other year. Students may apply themselves or be nominated by an instructor or mentor. To apply, please provide a statement/application, as detailed below.

Eligible applicants or nominees:

Must be pursuing a bachelor’s degree at a college or university in the SEWSA region and be in good standing with their program.

Must be current SEWSA members.

Your program or department’s institutional membership comes with two free student memberships, which you can award to two students of your choice. More information can be found here.

Preference will be given to students who are active in SEWSA.

application deadline: 2020

The application will consist of the following:

A brief one-page proposal or statement with contact information included, or a separate CV (as described below):

One paragraph to one page (concise) description of the student’s outstanding work (aim, purpose, and methodology of the student’s research, or the nature of the relevant campus or community project or activist endeavor) and the significance of the project to the mission of SEWSA.

Contact information for the student (including the information in #1 below) or a one-page curriculum vita/resume, including:

An indication of an investment in SEWSA, specifically, or in Women’s and Gender Studies, more generally.

The deadline for submitting an application is February 14, 2020. Applications should be submitted via email to Dr. Phyllis Thompson, President, at thompsop@mail.etsu.edu. Recipients will be notified by February 21, 2020.